Transnational Chambers of Commerce and Industry

A Transnational Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a group of chambers sharing a similar geographical region, economic grouping, cultural or language basis. Transnational chambers can be found in most regions of the world.

More than 20 transnational chambers exist around the world, creating a regional grouping of chambers of commerce, associations and enterprises, covering regions as large as Africa, to smaller and diverse communities such as the Caribbean and Asean.

They are non-governmental organisations, cutting across borders and serving as a forum for promoting the vital role of businessmen in the region, increasing regional business interaction, and enhancing regional economic growth.

ICC World Chambers Federation (WCF) manages ICC long standing partnerships with ten transnational chambers, creating a vital partnership and an essential connection to their business communities. These organisations are:

The various Chambers of Commerce of all ASEAN countries have organised a regional confederation known as the ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASEAN-CCI) which represents the business sector in various ASEAN meetings with its Dialogue Partners as well as within intra-ASEAN economic meetings. The ASEAN-CCI Secretariat holds office at the ASEAN Secretariat building in Jakarta.

ASCAME is the most important representative of the Mediterranean private sector and of the general interest of the economy. ASCAME represents all North and South chambers ands businesses regardless of their size and sector of activity, with over 250 members from 23 countries and 30 million companies it plays a critical role as the facilitator between business community in the Mediterranean bodies.

Created in 1958, Eurochambres is the European Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and forms one of the key pillars of business representation to the European institutions. EUROCHAMBRES voices the interests of over 20 million member enterprises in 45 European countries through a network of 2000 regional and local Chambers represented by 45 national and two transnational organisations.

Established in 1961, The CPCCAF (FECAMCO) consits of the Chambers of Commerce of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, and later they were joined by the chambers of Belize, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, it has its seat in San Salvador.

The Iberoamerican Association of Chambers of Commerce (AICO) was established on June 14, 1975, as an independent, nonprofit organisation created by representatives of chambers of commerce of Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and various cities and regions of Spain.

The JCIis a membership-based nonprofit organisation of 200,000 young people ages 18 to 40 in 5,000 communities and more than 100 countries around the world. Their mission is to provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.

Established in 1992, the main priority of SAARCChamber is to tackle economic issues in South Asian Countries, such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and to encourage trade, service, and industry in the region.\

Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce (SRCIC), mainly composed of national chambers of commerce of the Belt and Road countries, is the first transnational business confederation named after the Silk Road. Currently SRCIC has 129 organizational members from 77 countries, including state-level and regional chambers of commerce and millions of affiliated enterprises.

Bringing transnational chambers together

WCF spearheads ICC’s partnership with transnational chamber community. Each year, WCF hosts its annual meeting of representatives from all transnational chambers around the world, ensuring this community is aware of each organisation’s current priorities, activities and explores areas of inter-regional cooperation.

This forum assists in aiding new and smaller transnational groups develop their potential. Initiatives and programmes include trade, corporate social responsibility, environmental practices, youth entrepreneurship, women in business as well as chamber management and E-Business.

Many successful joint programmes and collaboration between ICC WCF and the transnational chambers ensuring that ICC’s tools of trade and experts, help support their local business communities.